Photography, perception and language: towards a theoretical groundwork for image education

The aim of this thesis is to examine the status and nature of photography in relation to two basic approaches: one derived from theories of perception and the other from analogies with verbal language. The implications and conclusions drawn from this critical survey are assessed in terms of their relevance and value for education in photography and as the basis for a possible curriculum in image education. The fact that the position of photography is not firmly established in school highlights the need for a fundamental re-appraisal of the medium and the part that it can play in education. Section One deals with the two main justifications for photography in education, following categories derived from Eisner: the contextualist and the essentialist. While the former provides a very strong case, the latter is also regarded as critical and concerns the value of photography as a medium in its own right. Issues regarding the criteria for photography, particularly as an art form, are then raised, and lead to basic questions about the nature of the medium itself. In Section Two, perceptual theory is examined by comparing two positions: Gibson's "registration" theory and the "constructive" tradition, with some consideration of the Gestalt view. The photograph's link with the real world is maintained in the comprehensive psychological theory of Neisser and the passage from nature to convention is accounted for here, as well as in Peirce's theory of signs. In photographic theory proper, the "trace of the real" is regarded as of seminal importance. "Language analogies are then considered in Section Three. Basic differences between word and image are clarified, and it is contended that while "language" metaphors can be used with some profit, too close a model borrowing from structural linguistics is fraught with difficulties. Sebeok's semiotic framework of communication and signification is introduced and regarded as useful in uniting natural and nonverbal phenomena to photographic concerns.. However, the project of "translinguistics", initiated by Barthes, but not ultimately pursued by him, is shown to have dangerous formalist and determinist leanings especially in conjunction with Marxist-Läcanian concepts. Partisan political concerns in "ideological" image analysis have become over-dominant in some instances for a wide understanding of issues. Finally, in Section Four, suggestions for new priorities in image education through photography are advanced and compared to present practice. Examples of work are given in the Appendices

Combining Rasch and cluster analysis: a novel method for developing rheumatoid arthritis states for use in valuation studies

Purpose: Health states that describe an investigated condition are a crucial component of valuation studies. The health states need to be distinct, comprehensible, and data-driven. The objective of this study was to describe a novel application of Rasch and cluster analyses in the development of three rheumatoid arthritis health states. Methods: The Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) was subjected to Rasch analysis to select the items that best represent disability. K-means cluster analysis produced health states with the levels of the selected items. The pain and discomfort domain from the EuroQol-5D was incorporated at the final stage. Results: The results demonstrate a methodology for reducing a dataset containing individual disease-specific scores to generate health states. The four selected HAQ items were bending down, climbing steps, lifting a cup to your mouth, and standing up from a chair. Conclusions: Overall, the combined use of Rasch and cluster analysis has proved to be an effective technique for identifying the most important items and levels for the construction of health states

A qualitative study exploring the general population's perception of rheumatoid arthritis after being informed about disease adaptation

Purpose: This study aimed to gain an understanding of what factors induce individuals to alter their opinions about a health condition after being informed about disease adaptation and being given time to reflect and deliberate on this information. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) states are used as an illustration. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 members of the general population. They completed two time trade-off exercises for three RA states and underwent an adaptation exercise (AE) which consisted of listening to recordings of patients discussing how they adapted to RA. Also included was a structured discussion to encourage the participant to reflect on how the patients have adapted. Participants were shown their own health state values, as well as patient values. Findings: After being informed about disease adaptation and reflecting on the information, participants were more likely to consider adaptation and alter their opinions of RA if they were able to empathise with the patients in the AE. This enabled individuals to feel that they could cope by reflecting on their experience of RA in family and friends, by drawing on others for support if they had RA, and by having a positive attitude towards life. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that there is a range of reasons for which people change their perceptions about RA; this requires further exploration

Combining Rasch and cluster analysis: a novel method for developing rheumatoid arthritis states for use in valuation studies

Purpose: Health states that describe an investigated condition are a crucial component of valuation studies. The health states need to be distinct, comprehensible, and data-driven. The objective of this study was to describe a novel application of Rasch and cluster analyses in the development of three rheumatoid arthritis health states. Methods: The Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) was subjected to Rasch analysis to select the items that best represent disability. K-means cluster analysis produced health states with the levels of the selected items. The pain and discomfort domain from the EuroQol-5D was incorporated at the final stage. Results: The results demonstrate a methodology for reducing a dataset containing individual disease-specific scores to generate health states. The four selected HAQ items were bending down, climbing steps, lifting a cup to your mouth, and standing up from a chair. Conclusions: Overall, the combined use of Rasch and cluster analysis has proved to be an effective technique for identifying the most important items and levels for the construction of health states.health state; Rasch analysis; cluster analysis; quality of life; rheumatoid arthritis

A qualitative study exploring the general population's perception of rheumatoid arthritis after being informed about disease adaptation

Purpose: This study aimed to gain an understanding of what factors induce individuals to alter their opinions about a health condition after being informed about disease adaptation and being given time to reflect and deliberate on this information. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) states are used as an illustration. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 members of the general population. They completed two time trade-off exercises for three RA states and underwent an adaptation exercise (AE) which consisted of listening to recordings of patients discussing how they adapted to RA. Also included was a structured discussion to encourage the participant to reflect on how the patients have adapted. Participants were shown their own health state values, as well as patient values. Findings: After being informed about disease adaptation and reflecting on the information, participants were more likely to consider adaptation and alter their opinions of RA if they were able to empathise with the patients in the AE. This enabled individuals to feel that they could cope by reflecting on their experience of RA in family and friends, by drawing on others for support if they had RA, and by having a positive attitude towards life. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that there is a range of reasons for which people change their perceptions about RA; this requires further exploration

The impact of disease adaptation information on general population values for rheumatoid arthritis states

Economic evaluation of healthcare technologies uses values for hypothetical health states elicited from the general population rather than patients. However, they may not consider adaptation. This study explored the extent to which the general population changes their initial values, and the factors that influenced this change, after being informed about adaptation. Three rheumatoid arthritis (RA) states were used for illustration. Two respondent groups were interviewed. The Initially Uninformed Group initially valued the RA states. An adaptation exercise followed, where they listened to recordings of patients discussing how they adapted; they then valued the same states again. The Informed Group underwent the adaptation exercise before valuing the states. The difference between the valuations was examined using t-tests. A multivariate regression was developed to assess the factors that impacted individuals to change their initial values. After undergoing the adaptation exercise, the Initially Uninformed Group statistically increased their values for the RA states. When the second values of the Initially Uninformed Group were compared to the first values of the Informed Group, there were no statistical differences, implying that there was no interviewer effect. Younger and healthier individuals were more likely to increase their initial values after being informed about adaptation

A qualitative study exploring the general population’s perception of rheumatoid arthritis after being informed about disease adaptation

Purpose: This study aimed to gain an understanding of what factors induce individuals to alter their opinions about a health condition after being informed about disease adaptation and being given time to reflect and deliberate on this information. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) states are used as an illustration. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 members of the general population. They completed two time trade-off exercises for three RA states and underwent an adaptation exercise (AE) which consisted of listening to recordings of patients discussing how they adapted to RA. Also included was a structured discussion to encourage the participant to reflect on how the patients have adapted. Participants were shown their own health state values, as well as patient values. Findings: After being informed about disease adaptation and reflecting on the information, participants were more likely to consider adaptation and alter their opinions of RA if they were able to empathise with the patients in the AE. This enabled individuals to feel that they could cope by reflecting on their experience of RA in family and friends, by drawing on others for support if they had RA, and by having a positive attitude towards life. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that there is a range of reasons for which people change their perceptions about RA; this requires further exploration.health state valuation; qualitative research; quality of life; disease adaptation

Tips : resources for teachers

This small booklet is designed as a ready reference for teachers who are confronted with a problem or engaged in a particular activitity in the primary school. All books which are listed are considered useful. However, those with annotations are considered more useful in the general classroom

The Invisible Thin Red Line

The aim of this paper is to argue that the adoption of an unrestricted principle of bivalence is compatible with a metaphysics that (i) denies that the future is real, (ii) adopts nomological indeterminism, and (iii) exploits a branching structure to provide a semantics for future contingent claims. To this end, we elaborate what we call Flow Fragmentalism, a view inspired by Kit Fine (2005)’s non-standard tense realism, according to which reality is divided up into maximally coherent collections of tensed facts. In this way, we show how to reconcile a genuinely A-theoretic branching-time model with the idea that there is a branch corresponding to the thin red line, that is, the branch that will turn out to be the actual future history of the world